Date/Time
Date(s) - 2025-04-05
12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location
Capitola Mall (Old Sear’s Building)
Categories
Event Name: Surf City Comic Con
Venue: Capitola Mall Old Sears Building
Venue address: 1855 41st Ave, Capitola, CA 95010
Event Start: 12pm
Event End: 3pm
Arrival Time: 11am
Requested number of characters: 5-10
Requested character types: Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, any
Secure changing/staging area: Yes
Handler/Photographer: Yes
Weapons/Masks: Yes
Comments:
Hello this is George Tegenkamp from Hadbro toys and the Surf City Comic Con asking again to have the 501st join us for the second annual Surf City Comic Con it was a pleasure last year to have you and would love to have you again
GGG Event Coordinator: Kevin Dizon
Booking Deadline: 3/29/25
NOTE: If we do not get minimum of 2 troopers and 1 handler, we will decline this event.
Decline Date2025-03-29
RSVPs
-
Costume Ticket
- Erich Bitonio (CX-19901) - CX: Hunter: The Bad Batch
- Ezekiel Eason (TK-99195) - SL: Darth Maul: Black Sun
- Mark Preader (SL-12509) - SL: Darth Revan
- Reno Rodriguez (TK11369) - SL: Darth Vader: ROTJ
- Antony Madison (ID-11704) - TI: TIE Pilot Reserve
- Brandy Rodriguez (IC-32071) - TR: Royal Guard ROTS
Trooping
Sign ups are closed for this trooping event.
Comments
I signed up as SG but can do handler if necessary
BTW, I spoke to George and he said he can provide a table if we want to have one. Casey said she can man it if we want to use it =)
Thanks for offering, Erich but I spoke with the ER and we declined a table. We will just be appearing at this event. OPS order being sent soon. Keep an eye out.
I was planning on attending as Revan but I’ll think I’ll take this opportunity to wear my new Senate red robe Emperor instead.
Apologies, I need to back out from this one. Family from out of town visiting. Enjoy and have fun friends!
EC Verified with 7 Troopers: Erich Bitonio, Ezekiel Eason, Mark Preader, Reno Rodriguez, Antony Madison, Brandy Rodriguez, and Diana Wolf Torres; Handler: Davina Madison. KD 9/12/25
MR submitted by TL Diana on 4/7/25:
Event Name: Surf City Comic Con
Venue: Capitola Mall Old Sears Building
Venue address: 1855 41st Ave, Capitola, CA 95010
Event Start: 12pm
Event End: 3pm
Arrival Time: 11am
Attendees:
Erich Bitonio (CX-19901) – CX: Hunter: The Bad Batch
Ezekiel Eason (TK-99195) – SL: Darth Maul: Black Sun
Mark Preader (SL-12509) – SL: Emperor
Reno Rodriguez (TK11369) – SL: Darth Vader: ROTJ
Antony Madison (ID-11704) – TI: TIE Pilot Reserve
Brandy Rodriguez (IC-32071) – TR: Royal Guard ROTS
Diana Wolf Torres (ID-950-20) – ID: Imperial Military Officer (Non Saga)
Handler: Davina Madison
Details:
Arrived on-site at 11 AM. There was plenty of parking and it was easy to find my way inside and find the ER. I simply went in the main entrance, like a paid attendee, and asked for the ER. The people taking the paid admission knew who I was and immediately connected me with the ER, (George.) He escorted me back to the green room, a large space behind the main stage that consisted of two connecting rooms. We shared the room with four other costumers– the Power Rangers– who shared their two “Power Tents” with us for private changing. These tents were pop-ups suitable for one person each that were great for sliding into a bodysuit with a bit of privacy.
There were no bathrooms in the con itself, other than porta pottys outdoors, so Mark and I opted to walk through the mall and use the restrooms at a restaurant halfway down the mall. Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t busy and the staff was kind about letting us use the restroom.
I did a walk-through of the con itself to try to figure out where to go with the troopers since it was my first time at the con. The stage area was very loud and the DJ was blasting out what sounded like music from a rave. I asked Reno if that music would be an issue inside his Vader bucket, and he admitted the noise would get annoying after a while. I found a photo booth area on the other side of the con, and checked in with the ER if we could use that space. After chatting with him some more, we agreed the troopers would come out at noontime. The DJ would cut the rave music, switch over to the Imperial march, and we would do a “march” over to the photo booth area. I asked the ER if he could have escort us over there, and I told him I could help clear a path. He liked the idea and made two announcements to let people know we’d be at the photo booth.
Our troopers were ready at noon and the ER showed up to escort us over. However, halfway to the photo booth area, he disappeared and handed us over to another staff employee who didn’t know where she was going. We ended up on the wrong side of the con far away from the photo booth. We ended up having to go with Plan B and using an alternate photo booth actually belonging to a paid cosplayer. She wasn’t busy and had no issues with us using the space for a while. It was all still a bit awkward, especially since we’d planned out the whole “march to the booth” bit.
There weren’t a lot of folks interested in taking photos with us, so we slowly meandered back over to the original booth where we were supposed to take pictures. We did take pics with a number of folks on the way. At the “correct” booth itself, there wasn’t a lot of traffic. Folks seemed to have lost interest in the idea. By 1:15, we decided to “call it.” Despite the fact there were a lot of Star Wars toys at the con, there wasn’t a feeling that there was a lot of interest in the Star Wars characters themselves.
Ezekiel arrived as we were suiting down. I offered to stay and handle for him, but he had his mother with him. He stayed and ended up doing a second shift as 501st for another two hours.
All in all, my impression is this is definitely more of a toy-con. I personally wouldn’t do the event again, and would chose something else if given the choice. But, the ER was very nice, if a bit distracted.
I am marking Davina Madison down for handler credit. While she did not sign up as handler, she functioned in this capacity for the entire event, sticking with us the entire time and took all of the event photos for this report.